Congress has Munchausen by proxy

Munchausen syndrome by proxy, now referred to as factious disorder by proxy or FDbP, is where a parent or caretaker enjoys the attention of having a sick child so they exaggerate and sometimes induce their victim's symptoms. Children are made to be sick; it's adulation-seeking via child abuse.

In this case, the caretaker is Congress (specifically the Republican-controlled House) and the thing they're enjoying making unwell is the country.

This disorder can sometimes be traced to an early legit emergency, where the caregiver first experiences the rush of admiration they'll later crave. For the GOP it's probably Sept. 11, 2001. It was on that day the then-leader of the Republican party finally got to do everything he wanted without question. He preemptively invaded Iraq without paying for it, flattened wages, made the rich richer and transformed higher education into a profit-driven industry. More importantly, he got Democrats to shut up while he pretended drunken-sailor-spending was compassionate conservatism.

So the idea was planted: The country in peril equals Republicans to the rescue! Even more important: Republican ideas - no matter how unsound - getting implemented.

And when deregulating the banking industry led to widespread fraud and abuse that ended up buckling our economy - causing another crisis - again Republicans got to do what they've always wanted: privatize profits and nationalize losses. The Republican-president-who-will-not-be-named bailed out the banks, saying famously, "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system."

After Republicans lost the White House in 2008, they decided if Obama succeeds, it'll be bad for them. It was about getting back those glorious not-spoken-about-GOP-president years when they could rack up debt and use the word "liberal" like it means skin lice. And as soon as the GOP got control of the House, the government has been on the verge of a shutdown virtually every month.

Republicans get to hold vigils (press conferences) lamenting the suffering of the country they've sworn to protect.

Our ailments are fabricated by Republicans and the antidotes are also fabricated by Republicans. Our spending problem? They made it and now only they can fix it. Our deficit? "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter," said Veep Dick Cheney. Now? They matter. Especially to Republicans who like to use the word "Reagan." They've shown their willingness to shut down the government (downgrading our credit in the process) to reduce the deficit.

Obama, for his part, keeps on trying to govern by consensus with a Republican party that waits for consensus so they can oppose it.

They have to, in effect, abandon their principles in order to save their principles.

Make sense? Of course not. It's still a guiding ideology for the party of Bush, post-Bush.

We have a factious disorder because of our factually dysfunctional opposition party. Budget showdown, debt-ceiling, fiscal cliff, sequestration - these are all symptoms of grand scale Munchausen by proxy syndrome.

Yes, it's twisted. And yes, we're sick "» and tired of it.

Email syndicated columnist Tina Dupuy at tinadupuy@yahoo.com.

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Congress has Munchausen by proxy

Munchausen syndrome by proxy, now referred to as factious disorder by proxy or FDbP, is where a parent or caretaker enjoys the attention of having a sick child so they exaggerate and sometimes induce